Skip to main content

So This Is the New Year...

Tonight, as the seconds tick by until the arrival of 2015 (Or maybe it's already arrived wherever you are reading this), I'd like to share my favorite song that has to deal with, well...the beginning of the new year. 


It's by Indie rock group Death Cab for Cutie, and they've been one of my favorite groups since Senior year of high school when I bought Narrow Stairs on iTunes, and I've been a fan since. I love that it's a melancholic song about the biggest non-even of the year and how Ben Gibbard wants to pretend "that we are wealthy, for just this once," on this one night. The song "The New Year" is the opening track off the band's third record, Transantlanticism, which is an incredible record in of itself, including "Sound of Settling," "Title and Registration," and the title track itself, so definitely seek this song out, as well as the rest of the record, because it's worth the listen.


I also want to take the time and thank the following people:

First, a big thank you to my mother, for installing a love of the cinema in me when I was a young kid. From drive-ins, to watching Turner Classic Movies on weekends, I am a lover of the medium because of you.

Second, a huge thank you to the people who inspired me for even starting this blog: Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams of Awards Daily.com; Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood; Kristopher Tapley of Hitflix; Mathew Buck, Brad Jones, Lindsay Ellis and Doug Walker of Channel Awesome. I wouldn't have the courage to start writing if it wasn't for your inspiration. 

Third, to Craig Kennedy of Awards Daily TV. It was a shot-lived gig, contributing to your realm, but it was well-worth taking, even if it was for a moment. I got to talk to some amazing writers, Joey Moser, Clarence Moyer and Megan "Spitfire" McLaclan, and I feel I've gotten better since my departure. You, good sir, are awesome.

Fourth, to the new people I've talked to on social media about the movies: Al Robinson, Robin Write, Ian, Tina K., and Steve S. Again, you guys rock.

Lastly: I'd like to thank you. 

Yes, you.

Thank you for reading, commenting, and simply hearing what I had to say. Sure, it wasn't much, but thank you nonetheless, and I assure you I plan to talk more about the movies in 2015.

Happy New Year, and thanks again for reading.

Comments

  1. Happy New Year's Jonathan!! Love me some Death Cab for Cutie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's to another year of great movies!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cowardice

I was looking forward to watching the James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy The Interview  on Christmas Day, even more so than Angelina Jolie's WWII drama Unbroken , or Rob Marshall's Into the Woods . I like what the writing and directing duo of Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg have done with comedies like Superbad , Pineapple Express and their debut feature, This Is the End . In light of Sony being hacked (which now appears to be North Korea's doing) and threats of attacking theaters that carry the comedy, three things happened today: 1.) Every major theater chain - AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Arclight, etc, had decided to pull out from showing The Interview  on its scheduled release date. 2.)  This prompted Sony Pictures to basically cancel the release date of the film amid threats of blowing up theaters. 3.)  Both Sony and the theater chains basically caved into the demands of cyber terrorism from North Korea. Are you fucking kidding me? We just caved into terrorist d

I'm Dreaming of a White Oscars

What does Stephen Hawking, the godfather of computer science, a hotel manager breaking out from prison during the first World War, a young boy and his family growing up through 12 years and the battle of wills between a aspiring musician and his near-abusive professor have in common? On the surface, these are different films ranging in different subjects. But when you look at the people who stared, wrote and directed these various movies, A few patterns begin to emerge: 1. The cast is predominately white. 2. The story mostly centers on a male protagonist. 3. The filmmakers behind the project are white and male. And all of those films I've mentioned:  The Theory of Everything , The Imitation Game , The Grand Budapest Hotel , Boyhood  and Whiplash  - have all been nominated for Best Picture for this year's 87th annual Academy Awards. Before I go any further, I just want to say that this is not an attack on the films themselves. Most of the films mentioned I really enjoy

Mad Max and the Awards Season Or: Let It Go, Let It Go...

And so, the Oscar race has officially begun, with the Nation Board of Review's annual best of list, applauding and honoring the creme de la creme in film for 2015. I definitely didn't expect to see films like Sicario  and Straight Outta Compton  to be on their list of the 10 best movies of the year, so big brownie points to them for their inclusion. Drew Goddard winning Best Adapted Screenplay was a shock, and well-deserved for taking the source material and creating a funny, exciting script where Matt Damon "has to science the shit" out of being stuck on an unforgiving planet like Mars after being marooned by mistake by his fellow astronauts. I think The Martian  is easily Ridley Scott's best and most enjoyable film in years (yes, I'm taking into account that I liked Prometheus ) , and it's fun to see the director this playful, though I think Damon winning Best Actor and Scott taking Best Director is a bit of a stretch. But then came the pick for Bes